5 Conservative Newspapers That Just Went ‘Never Trump’
In recent days, five prominent newspapers, with a collective five-century streak of endorsing Republicans for president, refused to back GOP nominee Donald Trump.
The papers – from states ranging from New England to the Great Lakes to the desert West – reject Trump as lacking the temperament, judgment and conservative values necessary to be president.
Three of the papers strongly endorsed Hillary Clinton, praising her as “hands-down the most qualified choice,” “doing the hard work needed to prepare herself to lead our nation,” and alone qualified to “move us beyond rancor and incivility.” Two back Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
In their own words, read what made these reflexively Republican newspapers recoil from the 2016 Republican nominee for president.
Paper: New Hampshire Union Leader
History: Backed Every Republican presidential candidate since 1916
Headline: “A better choice for President (No need to hold your nose)“
Choice quote: “[Trump] is a liar, a bully, a buffoon. He denigrates any individual or group that displeases him. He has dishonored military veterans and their families, made fun of the physically frail, and changed political views almost as often as he has changed wives.”
Paper: Arizona Republic
History: Backed every Republican presidential candidate since its founding in 1890
Headline: “Hillary Clinton is the only choice to move America ahead“
Choice quote: “The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified …. Trump responds to criticism with the petulance of verbal spit wads …. Trump’s inability to control himself … represents a real threat to our national security …. Trump’s long history of objectifying women and his demeaning comments about women during the campaign are not just good-old-boy gaffes. They are evidence of deep character flaws. They are part of a pattern …. Taken together they reveal a candidate who doesn’t grasp our national ideals …. Instead of offering solutions, he hangs scapegoats like piñatas and invites people to take a swing.”
Paper: The Dallas Morning News
History: Backed every Republican presidential candidate since 1940
Headline: “We recommend Hillary Clinton for president“
Choice quote: “Trump’s values are hostile to conservatism. He plays on fear — exploiting base instincts of xenophobia, racism and misogyny — to bring out the worst in all of us, rather than the best. His serial shifts on fundamental issues reveal an astounding absence of preparedness. And his improvisational insults and midnight tweets exhibit a dangerous lack of judgment and impulse control.”
Paper: Cincinnati Enquirer
History: Backed every Republican presidential candidate since 1916
Headline: “It has to be Hillary Clinton“
Choice quote: “Trump is a clear and present danger to our country …. His wild threats to blow Iranian ships out of the water if they make rude gestures at U.S. ships is just the type of reckless, cowboy diplomacy Americans should fear from a Trump presidency …. Do we really want someone in charge of our military and nuclear codes who has an impulse control problem? …. Trump brands himself as an outsider untainted by special interests, but we see a man utterly corrupted by self-interest. His narcissistic bid for the presidency is more about making himself great than America …. Why should anyone believe that a Trump presidency would look markedly different from his offensive, erratic, stance-shifting presidential campaign?”
Paper: Detroit News
History: Has only endorsed Republican presidential candidates since its founding in 1873
Headline: “Gary Johnson for president“
Choice quote: “Donald Trump is unprincipled, unstable and quite possibly dangerous. He can not be president …. Trump is not a conservative …. Trump has attracted support from too many of those who represent the worst of human nature …. But the most worrisome thing about Trump is that he is willing to stir the populace by stoking their fears of sinister forces at work from within and without to tear down their traditions, values and families ….
“His sort of populism has led to some of history’s great tragedies.”
Why not to vote for Trump, from A to Z. Watch here.